Akala once again explained knife violence on national TV and even Piers Morgan stopped to listen

Rapper and activist Akala went on Good Morning Britain (GMB) to explain the pitfalls of racialising knife crime. The public were left speechless by his insight. And even Piers Morgan stopped ranting to listen.

We don’t discuss the real problems with knife violence

On 18 March, Akala was a guest on GMB as the show discussed knife crime. Morgan suggested to Akala that there’s a link between young Black males and knife crime. But Akala disagreed.

He pointed out that some of the most horrific examples of knife attacks have been by white people on white people. In these cases the rapper said “race suddenly becomes unimportant”:

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‘Black-on-black violence is used to give the public the ridiculous impression all black people are at an equal risk of [committing] violent crime.’@akalamusic explains why making knife crime a race issue is counterproductive. pic.twitter.com/E9pFrTBdcw

Huge Respect to @akalamusic for his fulsome exploration of the knife crime situation in the UK, both past and present. He was well researched and provided facts that 98% of us do not know. If you missed the interview, do catch up. Thank you @gmb@piersmorgan and @susannareid100

Meanwhile, some noticed that even Morgan – known for his tirades – took time to listen:

Never seen @piersmorgan so quite!! While @akalamusic spoke I knew I would never be able to get all angry white man with him! Akala thank you for being the person who would have been able to challenge him even if he was! And being the person who he could never try it with.

@akalamusic on @GMB take a bow, fantastic discussion that, it really was. Would also like to applaud @piersmorgan for the way he conducted himself, usually gets a lot of stick but he let Akala talk and highlighted key issues. Fantastic.

The morning’s discussion came after Nathaniel Armstrong was stabbed to death in London on 16 March. Armstrong was cousin to Alex Beresford, GMB’s weatherman who interrupted a GMB debate on 5 March to argue that changing social environment was crucial to tackling knife crime. Beresford praised Akala on Twitter for putting Armstrong’s murder “into an understandable perspective”.

No more excuses

A topic like knife crime is complex and can’t be explained away by pointing at a single source. While the mass media loves blaming drillmusic and politicians point to a lack of police funding, Akala shows the problem runs much deeper. And his GMB appearance builds on what Akala told Channel 4 News. On 4 March, he hit out at the “moral panic” over knife crime figures and described the “racial explanations” as a “way out”.

Internalised racism is part of the problem that the UK still has with ethnicity. And the popular focus on ‘cultural’ causes such as music displays just how unwilling many are to confront that problem. But the public response to Akala shows that some people are crying out for insight on the issue. And in giving his thoughts, Akala was even able to shut Morgan up.

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